Death metal groups make their name on blasphemy, but their reach is usually limited. Here are 10 famous pop songs and music videos from big-name stars that have come under fire for their “blasphemous” messages.

1. Madonna: “Like a Prayer” (1989)

Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” was praised by music critics, but some religious folks were less enthusiastic. The Vatican condemned the music video, which featured burning crosses, stigmata, and a brief but steamy makeout session with a saint, who many viewers mistook for Jesus. Oedipal connotations aside (…Madonna lusting for Jesus), some viewers were upset that the object of Madonna’s saintly desire was black—but that was probably more about racism than religious offense. Pepsi, which had used the song in an advertising campaign, canceled its contract with the Material Girl to distance its brand from the controversy. Italy’s state broadcaster refused to air the video. Enjoy!

2. Lady Gaga: “Alejandro” (2010)

Lady Gaga has angered Muslims as the queen of #burqaswag (see her burqa visor and translucent abaya/hijab), but she’s also pissed off plenty of Christians by playing on her Catholic background. In the 2010 video for “Alejandro,” she dons a red latex habit and swallows (or deep throats?) a rosary before stripping down in a dog pile of scantily clad men. The Catholic League, which condemns just about everything, condemned the video. MTV refused to air it before 10 p.m. Even Katy Perry implied it was blasphemous on Twitter. Then again, Perry’s parents are both evangelical preachers, so maybe that’s not such a shock.

3. John Lennon: “Imagine” (1971)

John Lennon’s “Imagine” has become a freethought anthem. The Freedom From Religion Foundation starts every podcast with the ballad. The song’s music video features little more than the color white, a seemingly lobotomized Yoko Ono and John Lennon sporting a soccer mom hairdo. It’s the lyrics that secure Lennon’s place on this list:

OK, those aren’t (quite) the lyrics, but I got distracted by Osborne’s frizzfest in this video.

The song enters blasphemous territory (for some) by flirting with anthropomorphizing the Heavenly Father:

If God had a face, what would it look like?

And would you want to see it

If seeing meant that you would have to believe

In things like Heaven and in Jesus and the saints

And all the prophets?

The Catholic League took issue with the song and the suggestion that God might be “just a slob like one of us, just a stranger on a bus.”

The line “Nobody calling on the phone, ‘cept for the Pope maybe in Rome,” is probably less significant today considering how many people Francis popedials.

5. Kanye West: “I am a God” (2013)

Kanye’s Christian faith is common knowledge. So are his delusions of grandeur. Case in point: his latest song “I am a God.” In a recent interview, West said, “I made that song because I am a god. I don’t think there’s much more explanation.” OK.

“It’s a Sin” samples Latin masses to address singer Neil Tennant’s Catholic upbringing. The video is relatively tame. There’s a crucified Jesus, men and women in tighty whities praying and dancing on their monastery cots, a dancing nun. Nothing we didn’t see in The Sound of Music.

The lyrics, however, are more direct:

Father, forgive me, I tried not to do it

Turned over a new leaf, then tore right through it

Whatever you taught me, I didn’t believe it

Father, you fought me, ’cause I didn’t care

And I still don’t understand

7. Tim Minchin: “Pope Song” (2010)

Australian comedian Tim Minchin is best known for his satirical music. “Pope Song,” which drops the F-bomb about 80 times in two minutes(!), attacks Pope Benedict XVI and his handling of the clergy sex abuse scandal. Minchin performed the song on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., at the secular Reason Rally in 2012.

Some slightly sanitized lyrics:

I’ve no problem with the spiritual beliefs

Of other f****ers

While those beliefs don’t impact

On the happiness of others

But if you build your Church on claims

Of f***ing moral authority

And with threats of Hell impose it

On others in society

Then you, you motherf***er

Can expect some f***ing wrath

When it turns out you’ve been f***ing us

In our motherf***ing asses

Minchin also refers to Pope Benedict as “that motherf***ing, power hungry self-aggrandised bigot in the stupid f***ing hat.”

I wonder how he feels about Pope Francis…

***Warning: Almost exclusively explicit. I warned you.***

8. Tori Amos: “God” (1994)

WHAT!? Tori Amos made a weird music video and it was crazy and controversial? Say it ain’t so!

The lyrics to “God” aren’t that controversial:

“God sometimes you just don’t come through. Do you need a woman to look after you?”

Parallels drawn between a Jewish man strapping on a tefillah (Torah box) and a man prepping his arm for some recreational intravenous drug use

At least her attempts at religious offense cover several faiths?

YouTube commenter Balance Zen chimes in with some words of wisdom:

Rats are okay as pets, but eating after one isn’t very sanitary. There are limitations on what people should do for their beliefs.

I think he missed the point of this video. I think I did too.

9. Depech Mode: “Blasphemous Rumours” (1984)

The hair! The graphics! The air tambourine dancing! Now that’s what I call 80s.

There’s nothing particularly blasphemous about this video (other than perhaps the crowd worshipping the band on a stage that looks like a church), but the lyrics make God seem pretty malicious:

Girl of eighteen, fell in love with everything

Found new life in Jesus Christ

Hit by a car, ended up

On a life support machine

…

I don’t want to start any blasphemous rumours

But I think that God’s got a sick sense of humor

And when I die I expect to find Him laughing

10. Lady Gaga: “Judas” (2011)

Gaga again? Of course Gaga again. The pop princess addresses religious themes in many of her songs, including “Black Jesus,” “Bloody Mary,” “Disco Heaven,” “Electric Chapel,” “Marry the Night,” “Paparazzi,” and her latest “Venus”. “Judas” is among the most controversial, as Lady Gaga expresses her erotic desire for the infamous betrayer:

When he calls to me, I am ready

I’ll wash his feet with my hair if he needs

Forgive him when his tongue lies through his brain

Even after three times, he betrays me

…

I wanna love you

But something’s pulling me away from you

Jesus is my virtue

And Judas is the demon I cling to

The video features a motorcycle gang of twelve apostles and Gaga as Mary Magdalene. After some criticism from the Catholic League (surprise, surprise), Gaga said in an interview, “This video is not meant to be an attack on religion. I respect and love everyone’s beliefs. I’m a religious and spiritual person who’s obsessed with religious art.”

Who will be next to join the ranks of these big names in pissing off people of God? My money’s on 16-year-old New Zealand singer Lorde. Her stage name is an obvious flag. Plus there’s this Jesusy photo. Not to be confused with this Yeezusy photo.

Paul Frantizek

I’ve always found ‘Imagine’ highly disturbing, as much for its extreme pacifism as its atheism – a world without struggle and judgment would amount to a world without character and virtue, when you think about it. The whole worldview is intensely anti-individual.

Daniel Berry, NYC

anybody who has a problem with mixing the erotic with the sacred needs to review St Teresa d’Avila’s account of her encounter with the angel with the bow and three arrows. Bernini immortalized the event in a sculpture usually called, “The Ecstasy of St Teresa,” but which might more accurately be called, “St Teresa’s Triple Orgasm.” However, our cultural squeamishness about sex makes a frank description of St Teresa’s encounter with the Holy entirely unacceptable.

Debbo

Oh how I wish I could remember my biblical Hebrew better! Isaiah is full of wild imagery for the Judeo/Christian god, much of it feminine with a dose of eroticism.

The Hebrew anglicized to “rhm” translates to “womb” in modern English. (No vowels in Hebrew.) A word sometimes used in Isaiah to describe God’s passion for us has a root of “rhm”. Scholars much more skilled in translation than I say that God feels a deep, powerful love for us in God’s womb. Speaking only for my female self, that’s pretty much where I enjoy orgasms.

Back to these brave* Hebrew scholars: They draw the clear conclusion. God’s passionate love for us is orgasmic. Well, hot damn!

(*I refer to them as ‘brave’ because they faced physical threats, lost jobs, intimidation and harassment because they followed the evidence to a place that was very threatening to a portion of the Christian population.)

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[…] before you start “working,” check out 10 of the most “blasphemous” pop songs and music videos. Madonna and Lady Gaga join Kanye West and John Lennon on my list. Add any I missed in the comments […]

[…] before you start “working,” check out 10 of the most “blasphemous” pop songs and music videos. Madonna and Lady Gaga join Kanye West and John Lennon on my list. Add any I missed in the comments […]